#fightingpoverty

Disabilities and Economic Security By Laurel Rossi

Many people with #disabilities face an "#EarningHandicap," meaning that we struggle to earn an income, and a "#ConversionHandicap," referring to difficulty converting income into a good living. Part of Creative Spirit's mission is to ease this financial burden, using our services and #partnerships to ensure sustainable, integrated, #FairWage employment for the millions of #neurodiverse people living with disabilities. Working together, we can end #MultigenerationalPoverty for people with #IDDs. #BusinessLeaders and companies can empower employees with #DisabilityEmployment by providing reasonable accommodations at little to no expense. And we are here to support you.

Last week, following the viral testimony video on the poverty level to Congress (watch below), I was contacted by a large and widely popular news organization for an interview. They wanted to tell the story of the woman behind the testimony; what's my story and how I became so passionate. Okay, I thought. And then I heard that they were coming on "this" day and wanted a food pantry and SNAP recipients. I sat there for a minute and then told him that I was working that day and doing a Census presentation, which I'm sure he didn't want to cover, and that I wouldn't do poverty porn. That's right, poverty porn. And I haven't heard back. Poverty porn, to me, is when media outlets come in here looking to exploit our stories by choosing to focus on the most abject circumstances rather than portray us as people surviving in the midst of them. You know, the stories that make it appear as if we are the epitome of every stereotype about our state and our people. And I won't allow myself to be a part of that. Period.

Speaking the Truth

I firmly believe that there are two overarching reasons why my testimony has gotten over seven million views: I spoke the truth for a demographic that is largely ignored, the working poor, and I did it without playing the victim card. I know hundreds of people who are working and still struggling and maybe two of those play the poor victim. And there are other issues at play there, such as mental health, rather than just finances. We aren't those in the media portraying us to be what we are instead of uneducated … but it's the poverty porn that usually sells. It's sexier to paint a picture of every struggling person as lazy and uneducated, but that has to stop. We need to start hearing the stories of the mom working for $13/hour with a disabled spouse who can't work. We need to start hearing stories about working-class families who have two and three incomes just to stay afloat. We need to hear about how hard it is for childcare centers to find great staff when they could make more working at a fast-food restaurant. We need to hear about the nursing aides and the social workers who are out here caring for and loving on folks while worrying about paying their rent and utilities in the winter due to heating costs.

Too Much. Not Enough

But how do we hear these stories? Well, we have to start telling them, and that means being honest and vulnerable about what our lives really look like. Not having enough is shrouded in such shame that it's remarkably hard to find people who want to share their experience with it, but we absolutely have to! There is no other way to make folks aware of what it looks like to be stuck in that gray area of "too much to get help" and "not enough to get by" other than telling our stories. And believe me, once your truth is out there, others will begin speaking up, too. They'll join their stories with yours because they'll be glad someone understands them. Start by taking this survey to give your ideas about what we need to fix in the system to move from assistance to self-reliance. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQ8Q2L3

Sharing the Poverty Story

Soft Skills, EQ and Customer Support

Soft Skills, EQ and customer support all go hand in hand. As it stands, technology has brought us into a new age when it comes to customer management. The rise of chatbots, AI, omnichannel platforms and predictive knowledge bases have opened up new ways for disruptive innovators to align themselves with the millennial marketplace.

But there is an element missing when it comes to AI technologies and it’s a major one. “Trust repair” and gaining back the confidence of the customer after anything from a mild inconvenience to a major meltdown cannot be done with pre recorded texts or canned email responses. They are missing that human touch.

This is where a business can benefit tremendously from having a customer support staff dedicated to cultivating soft skills and EQ. Soft skills and EQ when used in tandem with AI will produce amazing results in building a solid foundation with your customers and...